[Nguyen]

@Natzam44: Thanks so much, I’ll have a try for that too if the normal Aquaphor doesn’t work.

Guys, I have tried preparing my first formulation ever and it’s kind of very interesting experience. A bit too much wax (microcrystalline wax) doesn’t help as it solidified quickly into candle like material, so I’ve added plenty of mineral oil to keep the mixture in soft ointment. I’ve also made use of the available product Dermeze lying unused in my home (containing only liquid parafin and white soft parafin) as its texture looks great. (https://www.dermeze.com.au/dermeze-treatment-ointment/)

From what I learned from Bill, I removed the castor wax from the recipe as I think both microcrystalline wax and castor wax do the same function to solidify the mixture. So the tried recipe was as belows:
1. 20 parts Liquid parafin
2. 40 parts Dermeze
3. 5 parts Microcrystalline wax
4. 25 parts Glycerol

The final mix looks nice, but it doesn’t seem to help much with the skin dryness. So I’ll try @Pharma‘s recipe above replacing the suitable vegetable oil to see how it goes. 

Thanks everyone.

[Nguyen]

Wow, thanks so much everyone for the very considerate and informative comments. Really appreciated.

@Jemolian: I will try switching it to castor wax instead of the PEG-40 version, or reduce the latter percentage to fit glycerol in as @Pharma has suggested. Thanks mate.

@Natzam44: Totally agree with you, I can’t avoid paraben products 100% because they are so effective. A ‘rescue’ moisturizer is Dexeryl, which is always a backup one for my son in case others do not work. But as you know, he has to apply moisturizer almost all over the body 1-2 times a day, especially in winter days, so I’d want to minimize the paraben one as I am afraid of accumulation given the large application area. As said, if only there’s something that works without paraben, that’ll be awesome, . I’ll buy Aquafor as Jemolian suggested and go on with this. It’s just a temporary peace of mind because I know everything is chemicals and depends on the concentration to be harmful or useful. Even drinking too much water can harm, . Thanks for sharing.

@Bill_Toge: Thanks for opening my eye Bill about the physical properties and uses of both version. Very helpful to me about the fact that the wax is use to gel oil, which is mineral oil in this case. I now understand why they have it in the formulations, .

@Pharma: Thanks a lot Pharma for the detailed recipe. Unfortunately beside eczema my son has a range of allergies including peanut, eggs and sea food. So I’ll replace peanut oil by others like jojoba/almond oil as I have tried them before and they are OK. Do you think it’s a good replacement? Would love to try your recipe, hopefully I can order other ingredients from local shops. You know, it’s supposed to be a homemade daddy version and not the lab work, so it’s a bit restricted in ingredients purchase, :smiley:. Thanks.

[Nguyen]

Hi Jemolian,

Thanks so much for your quick response. I haven’t tried Aquaphor before but definitely I will give it a go as the ingredients seem ‘not aggressive’ and this product is available in local stores here. At the same time I’ll go ahead with the creating the ointment for the first time as nearly all ingredients have arrived, . Thanks for updating me with the name Castor Wax as I had no idea they are equivalent.

By the way, is there a big difference between PEG-40 and normal hydrogenated castor wax in terms of stability and efficiency that you or anyone may share from your experience?

I’ve read somewhere that a byproduct of the PEG-40 hydrogenated castor wax is dioxane, which can cause cancer. If there is not much difference, I would choose the normal one.

Thanks again for your comments.